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ROSTER
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Balint Meszaros
Goalkeeper | Junior Meszaros led the MPSF in saves last year and will be counted upon once again to keep the ball out of the net for LBSU.
Milos Vrzic
Attacker | Junior With 2012 leading scorer Dan Matulis out for the season, Vrzic will be the top offensive weapon for the 49ers.
Nolan McConnell
Attacker | Sophomore McConnell stood out as a freshman, scoring 47 goals. He will look to build upon that number for his sophomore season.
1
Balint Meszaros
2
Nathan McConnell
6
Devin Mefford
8
Zacchary Kappos
10
Dan Matulis
11
Milos Vrzic
12
Dimitrios Lappas
14
Nick Rascon
22
Nolan McConnell
23
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Goalkeeper | Junior Attacker | Junior
Utility | Sophomore
Defender | Sophomore
Center | Junior (Redshirt)
Michail Drakapoulos
Attacker | Sophomore Utility | Freshman
Attacker | Junior (Redshirt) Attacker | Sophomore Attacker | Freshman
Head Coach: Gavin Arroyo Assistant Coach: Liz Grimes Assistant Coach: Justin Koeppen Volunteer Assistant Coach: Darin Blizzard
9/7
vs. Air Force
10 a.m.
9/8
vs. Loyola Marymount
3 p.m.
vs. Cal Lutheran
9/7
vs. UC Davis
9/8
Inland Empire Tournament
2:30 p.m. 10 a.m.
9/14
TBD
TBA
9/21
TBD
TBA
9/27
vs. Princeton
7 p.m.
9/15
TBD
NorCal Tournament TBD
Alumni Game
TBA TBA
12 p.m.
TBD
TBA
10/12 TBD
TBA
10/24 at UC Irvine
7 p.m.
10/5
TBD
SoCal Tournament NOTE: The official men’s water polo roster for 2013 has not been released. The names above were taken from the 2012 roster.
Time
UC San Diego Tournament
10/4
10/13 TBD
10/26 vs. UC Santa Barbara 11/2
at Pepperdine
11/9
vs. UCLA
11/3
11/7
vs. California
vs. UC San Diego
11/10 vs. Stanford
11/14 at Loyola Marymount 11/17 at USC
11/23 at Pacific
TBA TBA
12 p.m. 12 p.m. 12 p.m. 7 p.m.
12 p.m. 12 p.m. 3 p.m.
12 p.m. 12 p.m.
Key Games Sept. 21-22 at the NorCal Tournament
Todd Johnson | Daily 49er
Ricardo Guimaraes makes a pass at practice Monday afternoon. Guimaraes transferred to Long Beach State this year from Golden West College. “We have to play Pepperdine, UOP and Irvine away, so if you had to nail it down to one goal it’d be that we have to be able to win on the road,” Arroyo said. Arroyo and the ‘Niners will undoubtedly find success this season if they’re able to convert on road games and never look past any opponents. For LBSU’s water polo program as a whole, it’s about reaching that high level of play this
year and then being able to maintain it for years to come. “It’s hard to get there, it’s harder to stay there, but once you’ve reached that success it’s really hard to undo that,” Arroyo said. LBSU will be thrown into road play right off the bat as it takes on the defending Western Water Polo Association champions Air Force in its first match of the UC San Diego Tournament on Sept. 7.
Five-time defending champion USC remains a monumental test for all who stand in the Trojans’ way. Stanford, California, and UCLA should continue to pace the top half of the MPSF conference. LBSU finished last season as the fifth-ranked team in the nation, but the schedule has turned and The Beach will have to take to the road for several important games. The 49ers will play key games against UC Irvine, Pepperdine, and Pacific on the road this year. Arroyo’s squad will likely have to steal at least one of these road contests to qualify for the postseason. That will be a tall order. The odds will be against the 49ers to repeat the feats of last year. It was then that LBSU pulled off an upset against No. 5 Cal. The team also recorded its most wins for a single season since 1981, when LBSU went 25-9. The injury bug bit the 49ers in the offseason. Second team All-American center Dan Matulis
The NorCal Tournament will provide the first opportunity for the 49ers to face top-tier competition. It will show how well LBSU stacks up in the MPSF.
Oct. 12-13 at the SoCal Tournament
LBSU will have a chance to take on the top MPSF teams once again before they face them in conference play. The 49ers might need the week off that follows.
Oct. 26 at UC Santa Barbara
The match against UCSB is one game that LBSU must win to stay relevant in the MPSF. It’s the 49ers’ only home game against a team not ranked in the top five.
Nov. 3 vs. California
Repeating success of 2012 will be a challenge for LBSU
Success: few words could better describe last season for the Long Beach State men’s water polo team. The Beach recorded a 24-8 record, its highest win total under head coach Gavin Arroyo. Success breeds confidence, and it builds programs. It also raises expectations. The 49ers will have a hard time living up to the new expectations. LBSU will be exposed to several new challenges this year. After qualifying for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation last year, conference opponents will be gunning for the 49ers to make them prove that their 2012 campaign was not a pipedream. Some of the challenges remain the same.
Opponent
Claremont Convergence
Commentary
Staff Writer
Date
9/28
Continued from Page 1A
Andrew Turner
Schedule
9/22
Coaches:
Water P olo Arroyo’s season-long goal is simple when narrowed down. “Almost every year it’s about survival and going to the tournament,” Arroyo said. “There was a stretch there where we didn’t make it a couple of years and that was a bad place to be.” For the 49ers it was about finding success within themselves and then translating that into their play in the pool. “It’s just a progression of confidence and trying to play to a standard that you adhere to on a daily basis,” Arroyo said. This season the starting line up will see a few different faces, as senior Nick Rascon will be redshirting, as well as senior Dan Matulis, who is still recovering from shoulder surgery. The two have contributed a great deal to the 49ers’ success, but Arroyo is confident that key players in his squad will step up and fill their roles. “We’ve finally gotten to a point where we can redshirt guys and I don’t think we’ve ever had an opportunity to where we can redshirt some of our stronger players,” Arroyo said. The 49ers will look for standout play from junior Devon Mefford, junior Milos Vrzic and sophomore Nolan McConnell among others. “I’ve got a lot of smart guys and it’s fun to work with such an intelligent group,” Arroyo said. When pinpointing one key area on which the ‘Niners must focus this year it most definitely will be on how they will play away from home.
3A
will sit out this season after having shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. Matulis led the team with 69 goals in 2012. Senior Nick Rascon will follow suit, as he will redshirt in order to play his senior year with Matulis. Without the senior leadership of Matulis and Rascon, The Beach will be counting on the continuing development of its younger talent. Junior Devin Mefford will have to give the 49ers an inside presence in the attacking zone. Nolan McConnell emerged as a rising star as a freshman for LBSU. He finished third on the team with 47 goals last season. McConnell could have a breakout year with more scoring opportunities likely to fall in his direction. The man between the goal posts could ultimately decide where the chips fall for the 49ers. Junior Balint Meszaros set an LBSU record with 284 saves in his first season with The Beach. The fate of the 49ers may rest as much in his hands as any other player this year.
The 49ers’ road upset of Cal last year was the key win that propelled The Beach to a fifth-place finish in the MPSF. Can they do it again?
MPSF Preseason Poll 1. 2. 3.
Southern California Stanford Pacific
T4. UCLA
T4. California 6.
UC Santa Barbara
9.
Pepperdine
7. 8.
LONG BEACH STATE UC Irvine
- First-place votes in parenthesis
61 (5) 60 (4) 47 41 41 28 23 12 11